AND THEIK CULTURE. 49 



warm. Amongst those which made no growth, but whose bulbs are 

 much increased thereby, I mention Brouniii, Pulchellum or Concolor, 

 Monadelplmm-, Callosum, Maximowiczii, Dalmaticum Superbwn (one 

 bulb in tank), and a few others. I do not think I used the earth 

 closet soil properly. I ought to have put it below for the Lilies to root into 

 when they were in full growth instead of immediately round the bulb. 

 One bulb of Szovitzianum had a quantity put some distance beneath 

 it, and its growth was splendid, more than 3 feet high from the bulb to 

 the top of the flowers, and that in spite of its being stripped three parts 

 of the way of its leaves by the frost in May. 



" This example showed me that earth closet soil may be a capital thing 

 for Lilies if properly applied, as when I came down in April I really 

 thought the growth was done for, it looked so wretched : after that, the 

 Lily rooted into this soil, started afresh, and bloomed splendidly. 



"You also ask about swamp American Lilies in the tank. Humboldtii (I 

 believe it wants more warmth) did not appear, nor did one Superbum, but 

 another did first-rate, and seems well suited. I expect these will do well 

 in future, but the American kinds need thorough establishing." Frank 

 Miles, Bingham, Notts., Nov. 1877. 



"I am fond of Lilies, but unfortunately for me, my only plant of 

 Wallichianum is going to bloom at my home at Bingham, in Nottingham- 

 shire, while I am in Cardigan ; therefore, I fear I shall not see it. Dr. Moore, 

 of Glasnevin, told me that he was the first to grow this Lily, but, somehow, 

 he has never succeeded since ; doubtless, it requires greenhouse treatment, 

 and does not begin to grow till many months after other Lilies. My 

 bulb showed no signs of growth till the middle of July, and I began to 

 think it never would, but it then began to grow vigorously, and was in 

 first-rate condition when I last saw it. My plants of Auratum have 

 been very fine this year, and I will give my experience of imported bulbs. 

 Last January I bought fifty Auratum, and planted them in a bed of 

 loam, sand, and leaf-mould, on the north side of a Yew fence, so that the 

 sun did not scorch the soil in hot weather ; they soon began to develope, 

 and all made strong growth during the spring, but, being small bulbs, 

 I did not expect them to make much progress the first year. Some grew 3 

 feet high, some 4 feet or more, and bore from four to seven flowers, of which 

 I removed all but two, in order to prevent the bulb from being weakened, 

 by carrying too many flowers the first season. Nearly every Lily was 

 different, some being striped with magenta, some with hardly any spots, 

 and some with many spots ; one of them was a very fine variety, with a 

 deep magenta stripe running almost into the centre of the flower ; this 

 magenta, however, turned brown after the first day ; but I have never 

 seen, and never expect to see, an Auratum Lily banded with pure scarlet, 

 as described in nurserymens' catalogues*. The so-called L. Rubro-Vitta- 

 tum, sold at Messrs. Stevens', were not particularly highly-marked 

 varieties of Auratum. I have had one Auratum stem about 9 feet high, 



* We have, for several years in succession, flowered the true Auratum Rubro- Vitta~ 

 turn, here alluded to by Mr. Miles, for description of which, refer to Baker's Synopsis, 

 later on. 



